Minutemen exact revenge against Warriors

Friday

Nov 1, 2013 at 1:43 AM

Minutemen defeat Woodland for regional title

Erich Murphy

Senior leadership is so important at this time of any season. In this case, the season is volleyball and Lexington’s two senior starters pulled their Minutemen teammates to a two-set victory over Woodland in the championship of the Class 1 Flanagan-Cornell Regional Thursday night. The 25-19, 25-9 victory moved the Minutemen (25-10-1) to the Woodland Sectional. It also exacted a bit of revenge on the Warriors (16-11), who ended the LHS season on this court a year ago. “I thought the two seniors did well,” LHS head coach Julie Strating said, referring to Erica Davis and Tessa Walcott. “We talked about unfinished business with our season. We started out so keyed up because we knew we wanted it. We were making a lot of mistakes. Once we settled down, we were able to do much better.” In keeping with the Halloween spirit, thought not intentionally, Lexington started out horrifically. Unforced errors put LHS in a hole. Kylie Starkey served an ace to put Woodland up 11-5 and forced Strating into using a timeout. “I told them, ‘you haven’t done this all season, don’t do this tonight,’” Strating said of her talk during the break. “They responded very well.” No too quickly, though. Starkey served another ace coming out of the respite. “They were hurting themselves early on and we took advantage of that,” WHS head coach Betty Lowe said. “I don’t think they thought we had as much fight in us as we did.” Lexington was playing so poorly that it did not register a single service point through the first rotation. Gabby Freed delivered a kill to cut Woodland’s lead to 14-7. Freed then began the second rotation of service and got the first point for the Minutemen. It came when Davis and Walcott blocked and attack. That particular play seemed to be the turning point. A Davis kill a little later made it 16-11 and Lillie Walcott got the serve. “We were really all amped for the game, we kind of were overly excited, but once we got back into the flow things worked out,” Davis said. Lexington’s power game showed up and Lillie Walcott benefited. Tessa Walcott got a kill from the back row and Davis and Melissa Swartz added a successful attack each as LHS cut the margin to 16-14. Lowe got a timeout in an effort to stall the Minutemen. It didn’t work. Lexington got a point once play resumed, and then tied it when an attack was not returned. Lillie Walcott then served an ace and the Minutemen had the lead for the first time since taking a 1-0 lead to start the match. Another ace followed and then both sides traded points. This favored Lexington. “Our defense started playing,” Tessa Walcott said. “We calmed down a lot and got our sets up and the offense took over.” Lexi Bury got the ball after a Tessa Walcott kill and served out the first set. Kills from Walcott and Freed ended it. The Minutemen spotted Woodland the first point of the second set and then went on a roll behind Freed’s serving. Davis blocked a Starkey tip to kick off a six-point run. It included a Davis kill and an ace for Freed. Lexington’s confidence had ballooned and the Minutemen seemed to sense the inevitable. They kept up the attack and were able to make Woodland work. To the Warriors’ credit, they stayed in the fight. They did what Lowe was wanting — play hard and smart. The problem was Lexington’s power was too much to overcome. “I told them we had to get out there and play defense on them, to dig it up. To me that’s the fastest way to demoralize a hitter is to dig up their best shot,” Lowe said. “We were able to do it at times, but they found the holes.” The match ended as it began, with a Lexington senior recording a kill. This time it was Davis with a tip. There was redemption for Lexington, who lost in three sets, including the third game that went overtime, last year to Woodland at Flanagan-Cornell. “To be able to come back here and get that win we lost last year is awesome,” Davis said. “It’s a redemption from last year.” “We wanted to win this really bad and now we’re going for sectional,” Tessa Walcott added. “It’s one match at a time. We’re on the right track.” Davis had 11 kills and 5 blocks while Tessa Walcott contributed 9 kills. Freed was the attack leader with 13 kills. “Gabby Freed came to play tonight and our setters, Lillie and Lexi, really got the ball right where the hitters need it,” Strating said. Lillie Walcott and Bury had 15 assists apiece. Walcott also led the serving attack, tying Swartz for team honors with 8 points apiece. For Woodland, it was a sad ending for seven seniors and its head coach. Kimpling had 5 kills and Melanie Burroughs contributed 4 kills for WHS. Beutke and Starkey had 4 assists apiece. “I’m very proud of the way the girls played all season,” Lowe said. “We kept hitting right up to the end.”